A tricky encounter awaits punters to get Round 15 underway.

Souths and Gold Coast head into this match desperate to break three-game losing streaks but both sides have done little to win the hearts and minds of their fans in recent weeks.

The bunnies were brave in going down 24-18 to the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium last week and although they didn’t walk away with the two competition points, coach Michael Maguire would’ve been pleased with the effort.

Gold Coast have hit yet another slump after beginning to turn things around and were never a factor against the Warriors last week. They went down 34-12 despite playing at home.

ORIGIN ABSENTEES A FACTOR

This game could be decided by who’s not in the teams rather than who is.

SOUTH SYDNEY won’t be missing anyone due to State Of Origin commitments but the Titans will be without three of their regulars – Jarryd Hayne, Nathan Peats and young forward Jarrod Wallace.

The loss of Hayne speaks for itself from an attacking perspective but Peats and Wallace will be big losses in the engine room for the Titans who may struggle to keep the likes of Sam Burgess and co at bay.

HOME ISSUES

Souths are the only team left in the NRL comp this season yet to win at home.

Maguire’s side is 0-6 when listed as the ‘home’ side, however, one of their wins so far this season did come at ANZ Stadium which has been their base for a number of years but on that occasion they were the away team with the Tigers being at home.

Since the start of 2016, Souths have a terrible record at the venue with just five wins from 17 games.

THE HISTORY

GOLD COAST will go into this with a bit of confidence having beaten Souths in two of their past three games.

Historically the advantage is with Souths 8-6 which was built mainly off the back of a five-game winning streak between 2011 and 2014.

Margin punters may be swayed with a 1-12 result here as 11 of their 14 encounters have been decided by eight points or less.

A Gold Coast 1-12 Winning Margin is returning a juicy $5.30 @ Palmerbet while a Souths 1-12 result is $3 @ bet365.

THE VERDICT

With all the Origin absentees for the Titans we have to go with Souths ($1.36 @ bet365).

Their effort against a powerful Broncos outfit last week is enough for us to give them the nod but the big question is whether they can play with that same intensity here.

A few weeks ago they were flat against the Eels but then after enjoying the bye, looked refreshed and gave a good effort against the Broncos. That is good enough reason for us to have a few dollars on them here.

Neil Henry’s Gold Coast have now dropped three straight after winning three straight, with two of those scalps being Melbourne and Cronulla. Since their dramatic 38-36 win over the Storm they have been outgunned by Manly, North Queensland and New Zealand.

Alarmingly for the visitors is that their defence, which ranks second-worst in the competition with the Tigers and only in front of Newcastle, is leaking 26.6 points on average which means the Rabbitohs attack will get the chance to post some points.

The Titans have been outscored 84-30 in the past three games and with their Origin stars missing we can’t see them securing an upset here.

RECOMMENDED BET:

SOUTHS

VALUE PLAY:

SAM BURGESS TO SCORE A TRY – ‘Big Sam’ has four tries for the season and crossed last week against Brisbane